Conventional gas turbines generally include three sections: a compressor section, a combustor section and a turbine section. The compressor section compresses ambient air, and provides that compressed air to the combustion section where it is combined with fuel to generate a heated working fluid (gas). The heated gas is provided to the turbine section, where it impacts turbine blades to drive rotation of the turbine rotor shaft.
The combustion section often includes a number of can combustors in which combustion fluids such as air, fuel and diluents are mixed and combusted. In some combustion systems, the can combustors are uniquely angled with respect to the machine centerline (axis of rotation of the compressor and turbine section), and as such, performing maintenance on those can combustors creates an engineering challenge. For example, if a can combustor is not removed squarely from the combustion system, the can components as well as the remaining combustion hardware can be damaged.